“Although it is beguiling to think of Texas as different from the rest of the nation, the state's religious development does not sustain a claim to uniqueness. The Catholic Church (qv) was the established religion of Texas until late in the Mexican era, but then declined after the Texas Revolution (qv) and remained at a low ebb until sufficient Catholic immigrants arrived from Germany, Ireland, and elsewhere; the Catholic Church is now the largest religious body in Texas. Otherwise, beginning with the arrival of sizable numbers of Anglo-Americans in the 1820s, Texas has reflected impulses typical of Protestant religion in America at large, such as the desire for a Christian Sabbath, enforced if necessary by Sunday closing laws; an effective educational system that operated in tandem with the churches to promote public morality; "temperance," by which was meant prohibition (qv) and an intense hostility toward Catholicism….
…By 1861, with 30,661 members and 410 church buildings, Methodists still remained far ahead of all other religious bodies in the state. With 500 congregations and 280 buildings, Baptists were a distant second. Next came the Cumberland Presbyterians with 6,200 members and 155 places of worship. The other groups were all considerably smaller. The Disciples, who grew dramatically in the 1850s, now had 39 churches, followed by Catholics (33) and Episcopalians (19). Although their growth was impressive, the churches were barely holding their own in comparison to the increase in the general population. Of the 604,215 Texas residents in 1860, no more than about 12 percent were affiliated with any organized religion.
By 1906, however, significant changes had occurred. Baptists now represented some 33 percent of the church-going public, and the Methodists had declined to 27 percent. Only slightly behind Methodists were the Catholics, whose extraordinary progress in the latter nineteenth century was due not only to an influx of Germans, Czechs, Poles, French (qv) and Mexicans, but also to vigorous efforts by the church. The Disciples, composing about 7 percent of the state's church members, slipped ahead of the Presbyterians, whose adherents totaled approximately five percent. Lutherans, Episcopalians, and several smaller communions completed the picture. The resurgence of Catholicism in the latter nineteenth century is particularly noteworthy. The shortage of priests and the enormous influx of Americans after Texas independence had promoted Protestant ascendancy. Already poised at the northern and eastern borders, evangelistic Methodists, Baptists, Presbyterians, and Disciples swiftly entered and claimed the terrain as their own, while the Hispanics who had constituted the Catholic Church in Texas fled or became second-class residents, associated as they were with the Mexican enemy. But Catholics never abandoned the field, although the republic posed a problem for the Vatican. To recognize Texas independence would be to offend Catholic Mexico, while not to recognize it would risk the loss of all influence in the new nation. The Vatican never officially acknowledged the republic, but its continuing interest in the region was apparent...”
The Handbook Of Texas Online
